Tag: David Lammy

The speech made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 27 January 2025.

Thank you, Ambassador, for organising this event with us, and I want to echo Hazel’s thanks to Janine Webber.

I hugely admire the willingness of her and other survivors to continue sharing their stories with the world.

Many of you will have seen Prime Minister Keir Starmer visiting Auschwitz recently.

I can distinctly remember my own visit there some years ago, and the many stories on display.

The raw emotion of seeing a site of such evil. Such suffering. Such loss.

80 years on from the liberation, we must face up to the reality described so eloquently by Auschwitz survivor, Primo Levi:

Everyone needs to know that Auschwitz existed…

Auschwitz is outside of us, but it is all around us, in the air. The plague has died away, but the infection still lingers and it would be foolish to deny it.

Foolish, indeed.

As a black man descended from the Windrush generation, as MP for the most diverse constituency in Britain – including, I am proud to say, a thriving Jewish community. And now, as Foreign Secretary, I see all too many signs of that lingering infection.

Auschwitz did not start in its gas chambers. Genocide does not start with genocide. It starts with denial of rights. With attacks on the rule of law. With a festering resentment of the other.

And so, as Levi and so many other survivors rightly insisted, it is a duty for us all to reflect on what had happened. ‘Never again’ is a solemn promise which we owe to the victims, but also which we must uphold for our own sake, and for the sake of future generations.

We need Holocaust remembrance. Holocaust education. Action against antisemitism – it is how we build a better future for us all together.

That is why it was a great honour to make my first visit as Foreign Secretary to Yad Vashem last July. Why I am proud to host you all in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Holocaust Memorial Day and why I have been so glad to come into this job as the UK holds the Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

I want to thank all those involved in running our Presidency, in particular Lord Eric Pickles, whose work as Envoy only reinforces the cross-party nature of our country’s commitment to Holocaust remembrance.

One of the projects we have been sponsoring during our Presidency has been 80 Objects – 80 Lives. curated by the Association of Jewish Refugees and the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, this exhibition connects the testimonies of 80 survivors with 80 objects from before.

Wedding rings. The pages of a prayer book. A doll. A suitcase. Everyday objects, connecting the courageous survivors to the communities, the families, the lives they have lost forever.   I like this project as well because it charts a path for this work in the years ahead. 80 years on from the defeat of Nazism, the number of survivors still with us is inevitably dwindling.

The world of the 1930s and ‘40s can feel ever more distant from our high-tech world of today. The next generation risks being distracted, clickbait making it all too easy not to grasp the full horror of the Holocaust.

We therefore need to find new ways to tell the story.

To capture people’s imagination – young people’s most of all, and prompt real reflection.

We need them to understand what a catastrophic moral failure for humanity Auschwitz was, and how the seeds of such a catastrophe are still around us.

Another Auschwitz survivor, Viktor Frankl, wrote that one lesson he drew was how everything can be taken from human beings. But not our ability to “choose one’s own way”.

Today, for all the great challenges we face, we are fortunate to live in a very different moment. But it is still up to each of us to choose our own way.

For this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, my hope is that people here in Britain, people all over the world, choose to heed the Auschwitz story.

And I am choosing once again to work with all who share this hope to try to make sure they do.

Thank you.

The statement made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 19 January 2025.

We welcome the release of three hostages in Gaza, including British national Emily Damari, and thank Qatar, Egypt and the US for their support in bringing these individuals’ and their families’ horrific ordeal to an end.

Our thoughts are also with those still waiting to be reunited with their loved ones, including the families of UK linked hostages Eli Sharabi, Oded Lifshitz and Avinatan Or.

We are clear the deal must be implemented in full; all hostages be returned and aid be allowed to flow into Gaza now.

This ceasefire must lead to a credible pathway towards a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace.

The statement made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 15 January 2025.

Today’s announcement of a ceasefire agreement is a moment of hope after over a year of agony, following Hamas’s appalling attack on 7 October 2023.

For the hostages and their loved ones, including British citizen Emily Damari, and Eli Sharabi, Oded Lifschitz and Avinatan Or, this has been an unbearable trauma.

For the people of Gaza, so many of whom have lost lives, homes or loved ones, this has been a living nightmare.

For the region, this has brought yet more division and conflict.

With this agreement, hostages and their families will be reunited and Gazans can begin to rebuild their lives. I pay tribute to the tireless diplomatic efforts of Qatar, Egypt and the incoming and outgoing US administrations.

Much remains to be done – to implement all phases of the deal in full and establish a pathway to lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

From our first day in office, this Government has pressed for an immediate ceasefire, to free the hostages, and to bring relief, reconstruction and hope to civilians who have suffered so much.

We will play our full part in the coming days and weeks, working alongside our partners, to seize this chance for a better future.

The speech made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 9 January 2025. We are trying to source a version of the speech which doesn’t have the political sections redacted.

Well can I just begin by thanking Philip Barton for all the work he’s done, 30 years of public service. He is the personification of public service on behalf of our country for which we are incredibly grateful. And I am particularly grateful for the way you have led the transition for this new government over the last 6 months, and I think we all wish you a very, very happy retirement.

So 6 months after becoming Foreign Secretary, I’ve gathered you here, in the Foreign Office, to talk about the future.

But I want to begin by looking back. Because it was here that Ernest Bevin developed a plan that has kept us safe for almost eighty years.

Six months after Attlee’s great government began. In January 1946, Bevin stared into geopolitical fog at that time. The Second World War had only just ended. It was hard to see 6 months, let alone 6 years ahead.

But Bevin did not sit waiting for the fog to clear. He was a minister of action, who saw that what matters is not just what Britain say but what it does.

What matters is not just what Britain wants but what it builds. And what matters, what makes us matter, is having a strategy. Which is why Attlee’s manifesto was called ‘Let Us Face The Future’.

In foreign affairs, this meant pooling defences in a new transatlantic alliance. Acquiring a nuclear deterrent – which still protects the UK and NATO.

And a robust commitment to international law and new institutions like the United Nations. A strategy that was both progressive and realist. That took the world as it is. Whilst working for the world that we want to see.

Today, we must face the future once again with our Plan for Change. Fixing the foundations at home of economic stability, secure borders and national security. So that we can deliver the priorities of hard-working people and a decade of national renewal.

But to succeed in that task, we must navigate an increasingly volatile world. To deliver at home, and this department must deliver our international strategy abroad. Such a strategy is not about crystal gazing on what might happen next week in X or Y or in the Middle East.

That’s not what I am focused on today. Rather I want us to be looking at how we can get to a more progressive 2035. And that means confronting some hard truths, about the state of the country, about the state of the world, and the need for reform.

First, we must recognise that foreign policy begins at home.

[Political content redacted]

Second, we have to accept that there is no going back. We must stop the 1990s clouding our vision. The post-Cold War peace is well and truly over. This is a changed strategic environment.

The number of conflicts higher than at any time since 1945. The spectre of famine from Gaza to Sudan. And the most refugees and displaced people on record.

I am occasionally asked on my travels, here and of course on the doorstep around the country, when will the Kremlin threat, this upheaval that we’re experiencing, end? When will things get back to normal? My answer is that they will not. Europe’s future security is on a knife-edge.

Bevin warned in 1948 that we would only preserve peace by mobilising such force and I quote, “As will create confidence and energy on the one side and inspire respect and caution on the other.” And this is exactly what we need now.

That’s why our foreign policy has had to change. Inspired by Bevin, I call our new approach Progressive Realism. Taking the world as it is not as we wish it to be. Advancing progressive ends by realist means.

Through a storm of crises we have been putting this into practice. In Europe, progressive realism means working with our European neighbours rather than bickering and isolating ourselves from them.

New defence and migration agreements with Germany, an ambitious UK-France Summit in the works, a new era in relations with Ireland, a new foreign policy dialogue with the European Union, the first step towards a UK-EU Security Pact.

With the United States, our closest ally, progressive realism means strengthening our friendship with both sides of the aisle.

Joining them to defend Israel from Iranian attacks, together with Australia, further progressing the AUKUS partnership and making a breakthrough for UK defence companies thanks to the ITAR changes.

Against Russia, progressive realism means not allowing Putin’s mafia state to act with impunity. And showing the world our resolve to stand by Kyiv until they prevail, guaranteeing 3 billion a year in military aid for as long as it takes and unlocking new funding backed by frozen Russian assets.

As well as stepping up action with allies on Kremlin disinformation and making it my personal mission to choke off Russian revenues through our sanctions, imposing the most of any country against Russia’s Shadow Fleet and driving forward our campaign against kleptocracy.

In the face of conflicts in the Middle East and beyond, progressive realism means standing firm against terrorism and behind international law. Doubling our aid for Sudan, helping hundreds of Brits leave Lebanon, restoring funding for UNRWA, standing up for international courts, taking tough decisions on export licences.

But not flinching from defending Israel against an Iranian regime that wants to destroy it, while at the same time working for that ceasefire in Gaza so we can surge in the aid and bring all the hostages home and advance a two-state solution.

And when it comes to China, progressive realism means consistency, not oscillation. As I set out when I was visiting Beijing and Rachel Reeves is continuing this week. Pragmatic engagement to cooperate with China where we can, such as on trade, climate, global health, AI regulation.

But also a very robust dialogue and challenge where there are clear threats. Sanctioning Chinese firms who supply technologies to support Putin’s war, working for the release of Jimmy Lai, calling for an end to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, an end to cyber-attacks on the UK, and an end to sanctions on our parliamentarians.

And on the climate and nature crisis, progressive realism sees global action as fundamental to our energy independence and national security. We have launched the Global Clean Power Alliance bringing twelve countries on board in its first mission to turbocharge the rollout of clean energy and drive green jobs and investment at home.

And with the Global South, progressive realism means working together – no more lectures. Showing respect. Renewing partnerships, and new agreements, like those that I’ve launched with India, Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria.

That’s all just in the last 6 months. This is just the beginning. And I am determined for my tenure to be more than day-to-day crisis management kind of Foreign Secretary. That’s why I want to lay out 3 realist principles that will guide our foreign policy to get us to a more progressive 2035.

First, we and our allies must relearn the Cold War manual. Long-term thinking, not short-termism. Consistent deterrence, not constant distraction. Adapting as emerging technology reshapes the strategic environment. Securing strategic stability in an unstable world.

Our opponents are coordinating ever more closely. With Iranian drones fired on Ukrainian cities and North Korean troops now fighting against Ukraine.

We too need a whole new level of global engagement with our closest allies in the United States, Europe and the Five Eyes our strategic partners in Japan and South Korea and with all those committed to the principles of the UN Charter. That’s why we will engage with China. We have to challenge them not to throw their lot in with Putin.

And second, to be taken seriously by opponents and allies alike we must put our money where our mouth is. That starts by facing the facts. Donald Trump and JD Vance are simply right when they say that Europe needs to do more to defend its own continent. It is myopia to pretend otherwise, with Russia on the march.

So this government will lay out a clear pathway to reaching 2.5% of our GDP on defence.

[Political content redacted]

And with John Healey, we will lead and we will change to convince all of our NATO allies that rising defence spending is a strategic necessity.

And third, we must forge closer partnerships with the Global South. Because the world is larger than the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. We cannot divorce the Euro-Atlantic from the Indo-Pacific, and the Kremlin has spread its tentacles across the world spewing out disinformation on every continent, dispatching mercenaries to Africa and seeking closer relations within the BRICs formation.

A grim vision of unending competition is not compelling to the vast majority of states. We must avoid repeating the mistake of the early Cold War where the West lost ground to the so-called Third World. From Jakarta to Kampala, the Non-Aligned Movement was the result. And today many of those same states are structuring their foreign policy to avoid harm from US-China competition.

To shape 2035, we must offer a new vision of partnership, which approaches those countries as equals. Working with pioneers like Mia Mottley to reform the global financial system. More climate finance, delivered faster and with greater impact is not a luxury but a geopolitical necessity.

Failing to deliver means failing the Global South. And that only advantages Vladimir Putin. When the world changes, you need to see it as it really is and the same goes for your institutions.

Again and again, realism has meant progressive reform. The Hardinge-Crowe reforms of 1905, created a modern policy bureaucracy, which helped Britain keep pace with its rivals in the years preceding the First World War.

The Eden reform of 1943, creating a modern diplomatic service during a World War, made it open to women for the first time, paid for the first time, and fit to keep the peace. And Robin Cook’s foresight in 2000. First putting climate on the Foreign Office agenda.

Over the last 6 months I have seen in the FCDO the most dedicated public servants I have ever met in my life working all over the world to avert disasters and bring countries closer together.

But we must do more to harness the strengths of the Foreign Office and deliver the government’s Plan for Change.

That’s why I set in train 3 reviews and I’m very grateful to Martin Donnelly to Ngaire Woods to Minouche Shafik for all their work into the FCDO’s role and capabilities, looking particularly at our economic capability in this department, at our global impact in this department, and our fusion of development and diplomacy.

And in each case asking how can we ensure that the tools at our disposal provide maximum benefits to UK prosperity and security.

The stories of the reviews is a world where the foreign and the domestic, the political and the economic, have blurred. Vladimir Putin has mastered this with his hybrid playbook. And this department needs to reflect this reality. That’s why diplomacy and development belong together. While poverty reduction is an end in itself, our development work cannot be siloed off from geopolitics.

And that’s why I am reforming this department, connecting its work better to 2 domestic priorities of the British people that cannot be solved without work abroad. Tackling irregular migration. And boosting economic growth.

On irregular migration, the FCDO is critical to trying to solve this issue. A realistic strategy involves transactional, hard-headed diplomacy and to agree with partners smart interventions at every stage along the international people smuggling pathway so together we can strengthen borders, smash the gangs, and get those with no right to be here returned to their countries.

There are those who have told me that this isn’t a progressive issue. I’m afraid they are wrong. There is nothing progressive about leaving the most vulnerable exploited, letting criminal gangs get rich and commit more crime on British streets.

[Political content redacted]

Make no mistake. This government, from the Prime Minister down, see the challenge for what it is. And that’s why I am working so closely with Yvette Cooper, using our Departments’ new joint irregular migration unit to deploy every tool at our disposal to restore control to our borders. Improving cooperation on returns is how we send people home.

Conflict prevention is how we stop people fleeing their homes in the first place. Development work upstream is how we encourage people to stay in their homes, like the projects that we’ve now got in Albania, Vietnam and Iraq.

And we must use our sharpest diplomatic weapons to help restore control of our borders.

Today, I am very pleased to announce, after a lot of hard work, that the UK is set to be the first country in the world to develop legislation for a new sanctions regime specifically targeting irregular migration and organised immigration crime. This will help to prevent, combat, deter and disrupt irregular migration and the smuggling of migrants into the UK. That’s playing our full part on the issue of irregular migration.

But what about growth? This department needs to change to help deliver and invest by 2035, the government’s modern industrial strategy.

When I visit the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies and the cities and regions which are driving their growth, it’s crystal-clear how much their businesses and investors want to work with us, particularly now that we have begun to rebuild the UK’s reputation for economic competence.

And this is as true in Europe – [political content redacted] – as it is in the United States, the Gulf and Asia.

The FCDO’s network needs to work hand-in-glove with the Department for Business and Trade and the Office for Investment. To spot opportunities abroad and help overseas firms to grasp those opportunities from doing business with Britain. To get better at delivering on this agenda overseas, we need to recruit more diplomats with more private sector skills and experience.

More expertise in sectors like tech, data, life sciences particularly, where the UK is at the cutting edge.

More understanding of the everyday economy right across the country, not just in the City of London. And I am making it a priority in my time in this job to get more of our staff with these skills and experience posted across the most important markets for UK growth.

Because we have a compelling story to tell of the world’s second largest exporter of professional and business services, with 4 of the world’s top 10 universities, and ranking first in Europe when it comes to tech unicorns.

And one of our great strengths, of course are our creative industries – [political content redacted] – which account for almost 15% of our service exports as well as being a force multiplier for wider British influence, influence through their power to attract, not to compel.

Together with Lisa Nandy, I will therefore shortly be launching the new UK Soft Power Council so that the government can be a partner to those in business and beyond who are so important for our prosperity at home and our standing abroad.

Across both these priorities, we will do much more, much more quickly if we embrace the greatest enabler of our time – technology.

I am less interested in admiring the FCDO as a historic institution than fulfilling its potential to be a cutting-edge institution, which is why I am also planning to bring AI into the heart of our work.

By the end of this parliament, our reform agenda will deliver a radically reshaped organisation with redeployed resources and a completely modernised way of working.

I believe that AI can be transformative for the practice of diplomacy. And I am determined for the Foreign Office to be a pioneer in harnessing its power. An upgraded data science team will sit at the core of this office, bringing more empirical rigour to everything that we do.

This is not a far-fetched vision. The capability frankly already exists. In use by our friends in the US, and even some departments in Whitehall.

Now is the time to mainstream it. Liberating more diplomats from their desks in the UK. And getting them out into the global network, combatting irregular migration and driving growth, delivering for hardworking people at home.

Friends, this country has had its mettle tested before, often there have been those who have written us off, but British leaders saw our potential and in their plans for change, they pulled out strength and depth from within us.

In 1946, amid the ruins of the war, Bevin and his colleagues built NATO and the National Health Service. In the 1960s, Harold Wilson embraced the white heat of technology. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher unleashed the City of London. And as I entered politics, it was Tony Blair modernising Britain at home and abroad.

In 2025, we need to look within and see our power and our potential.

Our potential to secure our borders and reform the National Health Service, our potential to unlock growth and drive the clean energy transition, our potential to reconnect with the world through a foreign policy which enables and empowers change at home, and through a long-term international strategy.

We can be realists and optimists. We can seize the opportunities coming into view. And we can show the world what a more progressive 2035 can be like and deliver the promise of a decade of national renewal.

Thank you very much.

The statement made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 26 November 2024.

For more than a year, over a million Lebanese and Israeli civilians have been displaced from their homes, with many living under relentless rocket attacks. The announcement of a ceasefire agreement to end hostilities between Israel and Lebanese Hizballah offers hope.

The UK was the first G7 country to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese Hizballah in September and we have worked relentlessly since with our allies and partners to apply pressure to end this conflict since. We strongly urge all parties to use this agreement to open a pathway to a lasting peace.

A long-term political settlement, consistent with UN Security Council resolution 1701, is the only way to restore security and stability for the Lebanese and Israeli people. The UK will continue to support UNIFIL’s essential role in maintaining peace along the Blue Line and the Lebanese Armed Forces, as the only legitimate military force in Lebanon.

The devastation from this conflict is appalling and the human suffering must be addressed. The UK has played a leading role in addressing the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, announcing £15m in humanitarian support in autumn to provide essential medical supplies, emergency cash assistance, shelter and access to clean water. We will continue to play our part to support those in need.

We must seize this moment. It must be a turning point that builds momentum towards a lasting peace across the Middle East. In Gaza, we need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all the hostages and an end to Israeli restrictions on aid. The intolerable suffering must end.

The speech made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 18 November 2024.

The situation is devastating and frankly beyond comprehension.

And is getting worse, not better.

Winter is here.

Famine is imminent.

And 400 days into this war, it is totally unacceptable that it’s harder than ever to get aid into Gaza.

In October, just 37 humanitarian trucks entered the Strip each day.

It’s the lowest average in the last year.

The situation in northern Gaza is a nightmare of disease, destruction and despair.

Over three hundred aid workers have now been killed.

It’s the highest number in UN history.

Amongst them were three British nationals, whose families yearn for justice.

More children have been killed than in any recent conflict anywhere in the world.

And meanwhile, Hamas still cruelly holds onto the hostages, including British national Emily Damari, extending their families’ torment even further.

In the West Bank, an environment of impunity exists for extremist settlers.

And since October 7th, conflict has spread, engulfing of course, Lebanon.

We must bring this multi-front conflict to an end.

There is no excuse for Hamas’ hostage taking.

They need to be set free.

There is no excuse for Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid.

They need to be lifted.

And there is no excuse for violations of international humanitarian law.

It needs to be respected – by all sides.

No excuse for malign Iranian activity, destabilising the region.

It needs to stop.

The world has failed to bring about the ceasefires so desperately needed in Gaza and Lebanon.

Failed to break the cycles of violence.

But the UK will not give up.

Not when there is so much, frankly, at stake for civilians in the region, who suffer so greatly.

But also for us all.

On and since October 7th, the nationals of at least thirty-one UN members have been killed or kidnapped in the region.

Merchant shipping, of course, has been disrupted in the Red Sea, and the entire region has been pulled to the brink of an even more devastating war.

Despite this bleak picture, we cannot let experience turn us into pessimists.

It is never too late for peace.

We need a huge huge rise in aid.

We need to respect aid workers once again.

Proper protection for civilians.

The UK has restarted our funding to UNRWA, to help those saving lives, and deliver the Colonna report.

And we’ve been consistent in our support for international law.

We’re working hard every day to bring this horrendous war to an end.

The longer fighting continues, the deeper the depths of pain, of anger, which corrode the bonds of common humanity on which a lasting peace must necessarily be built.

When the opening comes, we must be ready to seize it.

We need detailed plans for turning an immediate ceasefire into a lasting solution.

A strengthened and reformed Palestinian Authority should be at the centre of Gaza’s future recovery, security and governance.

And we’ve got to give the people of the West Bank and Gaza a political horizon, a credible, irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state.

In 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181.

Ever since, the Palestinian people have been waiting, waiting for seventy-seven years for a land that they can call their own.

That wait must end.

And the Israeli people, who are still threatened by groups dedicated to their destruction, have waited too long for the peace and security promised when their nation was born.

We must not give up our pursuit of a future where all people of the region can live side by side in peaceful co-existence, including Israelis and Palestinians.

Ending the war.

Securing a lasting peace, with a two-state solution at its core.

This is what the region needs.

And this is what the world wants.

And this is what we will keep striving to achieve.

The speech made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 18 November 2024.

For over eighteen months, Sudanese civilians have endured unimaginable violence.

We have seen and heard the testimony.

Atrocities driven by ethnic hatred.

Sexual violence, including mass rape.

Children abducted and recruited as soldiers in this horror.

Aid workers attacked.

Essential supplies blocked.

Homes, schools, hospitals destroyed and looted.

This suffering is a scar on the collective conscience.

On a scale that is frankly hard to comprehend.

In the face of this horror, the UK and Sierra Leone – working in partnership – sought to bring this Council together to address this humanitarian emergency and catastrophe.

To protect civilians.

To ensure aid access.

To call for a ceasefire.

One country stood in the way of the Council speaking with one voice.

One country is the blocker.

One country is the enemy of peace.

This Russian veto is a disgrace.

And it shows to the world yet again Russia’s true colours.

Shame on Putin for waging a war of aggression in Ukraine.

Shame on Putin for using his mercenaries to spread conflict and violence across the African continent.

And shame on Putin for pretending to be a partner of the Global South.

While condemning Black Africans to further killing, further rape, further starvation in a brutal civil war.

I ask the Russian representative in all conscience sitting there on his phone.

How many more Sudanese have to be killed?

How many more women have to be raped?

How many more children have to go without food?

Before Russia will act?

Russia will have to explain itself to the entire United Nations membership now.

While Britain doubles aid.

Russia blocks aid access.

While Britain works with our African partners.

Russia vetoes their will.

We tabled this resolution to show the Sudanese people and the world that they are not forgotten.

This text would have called on parties to agree humanitarian pauses.

To ensure the safe passage and get aid to where it is needed.

It would have galvanised support to local groups, who are taking unimaginable risks to protect their communities.

And it would have increased pressure on the warring parties to agree a ceasefire by supporting mediation efforts.

Mean, nasty and cynical, Russia’s veto today sends a message to the warring parties that they can act with impunity.

That they can ignore their commitments and responsibilities to protect their own people.

Let me be clear.

I will not stop calling for more action to protect the people of Sudan.

I will not stop calling more aid.

I will not stop working with our partners in Africa and around the world to help

The UK will not forget Sudan.

The speech made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 13 November 2024.

Thank you, President Asakawa, for bringing us all together today.

I am really very, very pleased to see such a strong line-up as we launch this important initiative.

In my first major speech as Foreign Secretary, the Kew Lecture, I spoke about the need to put tackling the climate and nature crisis at the heart of our foreign policy.

I passionately believe this is the right course for Britain – given the size of the threat, and the scale of the opportunity.

And we are putting climate at the centre. Already domestically, we have got rid of the onshore wind ban. Already domestically, we have set up GB Energy – the first public utility to really harness and race us forward on that clean energy mission. Later on today, our Prime Minister will announce an ambitious NDC target, and we have already said that there will be no renewal of oil and gas licenses in the North Sea and we’ve seen the end of coal in the United Kingdom. We have got off to a major, major start. I passionately believe that this is the right course for Britain given the size of the threat then and the scale of the opportunity.

But clearly, no one country can tackle this problem alone.

So it is very important to see countries from the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic, all working together, all recognising that our security is indivisible, and that this is a true climate-nature moment where we come together and we see that acutely in conflicts like the conflict that we see in Ukraine.

I am also delighted that the UK will be playing its part, announcing today a 280 million dollar guarantee as part of this collective effort.

I said it in my Kew speech and I have heard it frequently at past COPs, but it really bears repeating.

Words are not enough. If we are to avoid the worst, all of us need to take action. And for countries like those on this panel, whose economies prospered in the age of hydrocarbons, that means putting our money where our mouth is.

But it’s not just about what we commit, it’s also about making the most of that money.

All of us on this panel will have experienced difficult conversations with our finance ministries.

And at the same time, all of us will have heard again and again in conversations with partners in the Global South the shortages in climate finance and how big they are, and they risk getting bigger.

The best way to manage this is through innovative and multilateral solutions like this finance facility. Whether we say we want to get our penny’s worth or bang for our buck, the point remains the same – this is about maximising our impact.

I congratulate the Asian Development Bank and our friends here today for their work in reaching this milestone.

Thanks to the design of this Facility, you will be able to use every pound, dollar, krona, yen or won from us, and lend four and a half times as much.

As a result, we will have leveraged eleven billion dollars between us.

And we are going a long way towards fulfilling your ambition to be the climate bank of Asia.

This is urgently needed.

Over half of our global emissions come from Asia, almost half from developing Asia.

This is not surprising given the region’s size and impressive growth in recent years.

But it highlights the need for climate action.

Not least given how climate change risks reversing development gains particularly in the region, with over 40 million people at risk of falling back into extreme poverty because of the impact of the climate emergency.

Ultimately, like all the work we do at COP, this event is about them, not us.

It’s about taking the action they need.

It’s about getting them access to the finance they deserve.

It’s about changing their lives for the better.

And preserving a planet on which they and we can live in harmony with our natural environment for generations to come.

Thank you.